It’s very simple. $50 a month gets you unlimited talk and text, along with 500MB of data which includes the Smartphone Mobile Hotspot feature, which lets you share your phone’s data connection with up to 5 Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Additional high-speed data costs $10 for every 2GB, going up to a maximum of 12GB, which will cost you $110. After crossing the limit, you will still have data access at 2G speeds. If the hotspot feature is something you don’t use or are okay without, just $70 per month will include unlimited nationwide “4G.” T-Mobile is calling it’s high-speed data network 4G, but is currently an upgraded HSPA+ network, with the company’s 4G LTE network expected to go live in select cities tomorrow.

We expect the company to also announce pricing details of it’s new lineup of devices, which will include the Blackberry Z10, the HTC One, and the Samsung Galaxy S4. It’ll be interesting to see whether T-Mobile can get the pricing right, or right enough to convince consumers to leave behind the highly-subsidized device prices offered by its competitors. Of course, the same highly-subsidized rates come with a 2 year contractual commitment, the lack of which is T-Mobile’s biggest selling point with its latest strategy.

Stay tuned as we find out more during the official unveiling of T-Mobile’s “uncarrier” strategy tomorrow!

A trusted source has provided us with a full breakdown of T-Mobile’s upcoming Value plans. See how the plans will be built for individuals and families.

We’ve reported extensively on T-Mobile’s bold plans to become an “Uncarrier” by ditching the subsidy system now prevalent in the United States.

While T-Mobile is only expected to reveal its new strategy on March 26, we’ve already learned quite a lot about the structure of the Uncarrier plans, thanks to a series of leaks. These include details about a new trade-in program that will score customers discounts on their plans when they bring in old devices, and information about the pricing of the “Uncarrier classic” plans, which T-Mo will make available through Best Buy and other big retailers.

Now we have some new details about T-Mobile’s upcoming Value plans, thanks to our trusted source close to the carrier. These plans will be available in T-Mo stores and online, and, as rumored before, include a plan that offers unlimited data for an affordable $70.

T-Mobile individual Value plans pricing

Here’s how the individual T-Mobile Value plans will be built. All plans will include a base voice and text package that will cost $50. Starting from it, individual users will get to choose between either unlimited data or a set of data buckets.

The unlimited option will be $20 for phone access, plus an optional bucket for tethered access. After the buckets are consumed, tethering stops, but you’ll still get data at full speed on your device.

The bucket data option will start from $0 for 0.5GB (included) to $60 for 12.5GB. This includes both device and tethered access. After the bucket is consumed, the speed will be throttled.

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T-Mobile individual Family/pooled plans pricing

The Family/pooled Uncarrier plans are similar to the individual plans, with the difference being the tariff for the voice and text package. For $80, users will get unlimited text and talk on line 1&2, with an extra $10 for lines 3 to 5.

The data add-on is identical to the individual plans.

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T-Mobile’s Uncarrier marketing approach

Finally, we got our hands on a document that lays down the main selling points of T-Mobile’s Uncarrier strategy. The carrier will focus on four qualities of its service: un-congested, un-limited, un-beatable, and un-restricted.

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What do you make of these plans? Will they bring T-Mobile the much awaited turnaround?

There’s a reason, or better yet, there are several reasons why T-Mobile is the least popular of the major US carriers. Magenta doesn’t carry the iPhone, it often brings top-tier devices late, it doesn’t really have the edge on the competition with cheap plans or attractive promos, while the 4G LTE rollout has been and still is rather sluggish.

As part of the latest Valentine’s Day offer, you can get a bunch of on-contract smartphones free with waived activation, but if that’s not your thing you might be interested in a new promo set to start tomorrow, on February 13.

Both new and existing T-Mobile customers can qualify for the offer, which promises to save you 5 bucks a month until January 2014. That’s for each new line you add to a family plan, so the total savings can be quite generous.

If the leaked doc picked up by TmoNews proves legit (and we think it will), Value add-a-lines will cost you nothing for almost a whole year, while Classic new lines will be just $5 each instead of the existing $10. Granted, the promo is not exactly original. In fact, T-Mobile had an identical deal last fall. Then again, if it was successful, why not bring it back?

Unfortunately, existing customers will get automatic contract extensions upon signing up for the deal. Another term of use forbids lines two through five to go for unlimited plans. Not cool, but at least you can have unlimited minutes on the primary line and 500 minutes for each “backup” user.

The expiration date is apparently March 23, so you’ll have enough time to decide whether or not the offer suits your needs. If you ask us, it’s at least worth considering. Just like T-Mo is slowly, but steadily becoming a real contender for Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. Do you guys agree?

T-Mobile is changing its mobile phone subscription model by 2013. In gist, the carrier will only offer Value Plans, and it wants you to buy smartphones at full-price rather than go for a subsidized phone.

The pricing model for mobile service in the U.S. has traditionally been subsidy-based. Phones are free or cheap because the carrier pays for the phone upfront. As such, you can get a $650 smartphone cheap or for free, but the carrier will recoup this investment by adding on to the monthly charge. This cost is imputed into the plan, though, and is considered a hidden charge. T-Mobile wants to change this by 2013, as they start offering the iPhone for the first time.

T-Mobile is finally offering the iPhone, but unlike other carriers, the telco will offer it to customers at cost. Tmo will start pushing only its Value Plan offerings, and will no longer offer Classic Plans. Value Plans are about $20 cheaper per month for the same service than its classic ones.

But why the move away from subsidy? T-Mobile offers the following benefits.

Tmo says this will encourage “BYOD” or bring-your-own-device setups among customers. You can simply go for a plan with your existing unlocked smartphone or tablet if you choose to.

This will also encourage device upgrades even without having to wait for contract to mature.

The new plans are also meant to help customers appreciate just how expensive smartphones are. These are $650 to $800 (or more) devices, after all. With “free” offers, users tend to feel these are just throwaway devices, when in fact they’re paying for it in their monthly bills.

With subsidies, consumers continue paying for the subsidized cost of the phone even after the contract has expired. With non-subsidized phones, users pay only for the services they use.

T-Mobile will not just let users bear the full cost of devices outright, though. The mobile provider will continue offering Equipment Installment Plans (EIP), which lets users pay for the device cost in monthly installments for 20 months, which will depend on how much the phone will cost (usually a downpayment plus $5 to $20 monthly).

In an investor call, T-Mobile CEO John Legere says this move is expected to appeal to customers who feel limited by carrier restrictions on upgrades because of their subsidies. It also means that customers get to save in the long run. “We think there is huge room for a challenger to change some of that, in a way that the larger players will not be able to or will choose not to respond to,” Legere said, expounding on the current subsidy-based business model that most carriers are following.

$20 multiplied by 24 months is $480, after all — an added cost that you’re probably better off using toward the purchase of a new phone or for your device installments.

Is this a good move on T-Mobile’s part? Are American consumers ready for a radical change in mobile phone pricing?

]]>http://www.androidauthority.com/tmobile-value-plans-2013-137177/feed/14T-Mobile starts 12 Days of Value Promo, brings big discounts on smartphones and up to $120 for traded in deviceshttp://www.androidauthority.com/t-mobile-starts-12-days-of-value-promo-135780/
http://www.androidauthority.com/t-mobile-starts-12-days-of-value-promo-135780/#commentsSun, 02 Dec 2012 06:00:23 +0000http://www.androidauthority.com/?p=135780
Tis the season, as they say. With the holidays in full swing, we will all soon be treated to a plethora of holiday sales events. However, there are some companies who are going for the holiday spirit as early as possible to get those early shoppers. T-Mobile is one of those companies and they just started a promo called the 12 Days of Value.

The 12 Days of Value will give potential customers 12 days to take advantage of discounted smartphones and T-Mobile’s value plans. It started on December 1 and will run through December 12. It should be noted that these deals are only for brick and mortar stores. So you won’t find these deals online.

So here’s how it works. Customers can get a spanking new Value plan on T-Mobile for only $12 down. If you’d prefer, you can trade in one of the mobile devices on T-Mobile’s list for $120 back. Included on that list are a lot of older devices and most of them are on T-Mobile. But there are some newer devices too, like the Samsung Galaxy S III. Why anyone would sell theirs for $120 is a tough question to answer, though.

Is this a good deal by T-Mobile?

It’s really not bad. The big deal here is the T-Mobile Value Plans. They’re cheaper than their classic contract plans on average. You can get unlimited everything, including HSPA+ 4g, for $69.99. That’s not bad for a contract plan.

For those who may be switching carriers this holiday season, does this look like a deal worth checking out? Let us know what you think.